We got almost all our stuff moved into the garage of the new place yesterday, and the process went about as well as such things can go. I sustained only minor injuries: a few bruises and a nasty cut on my wrist.

Today was worse. It was all about finishing up the "last few things" that we left there (and it's always more than you thought) and cleaning. 8 hours of finishing up and cleaning. Ugh. Days on end of lifting and scrubbing... extended periods of manual labor and I don't do very well together.

S and I did take the dogs on a long romp today before the cleaning fest began. I was wearing a tank top and managed to get my shoulders pretty badly sunburned. I realized tonight that, from the collarbones down my arms, my skin now has four distinct colors: white, then red, and then a very slightly tanned area around my biceps. My forearms are considerably darker. I am taking the farmer tan to whole new dimensions here, and something must be done about it.

We also met the weirdest duck I've ever seen while we were walking. It walked right up to all four of our dogs and stuck its beak in their noses like it was trying to make friends. My dogs, being bird dogs—and with just enough training to get "sit" and "down" when they aren't distracted, but not enough to get "no" around squirrels or anything that flies—can be very difficult to control around ducks. I was worried they would hurt or kill this strange, exciting bird. I attempted to drag them away, but the duck wouldn't stop following us. We kept looking back, and there it still was, waddling along. This went on for about 300 feet, which is a long way for a duck to waddle. We thought maybe it would be easier if it just pinned a suicide note to itself and walked into the street. Really, it was like one of those movies where someone keeps checking the rearview mirror and discovering that someone is still in pursuit of them. I wish we had been able to film it and put it to a soundtrack.

I'm exhausted, but I refuse to go to bed before 2, because going to bed early hasn't been working out for me. I keep waking up insanely early after a terrible night's sleep. Plus, I feel much more comfortable monopolizing my friend's phone line and computer when she's asleep.

We hear that we should close on the new house some time this week, so we might be in and settled by next weekend. If anything goes wrong with the deal at this point, I might start thinking that our little duck friend had the right idea. That's not actually true, but it's not far off.